Fermat's Library

João describes Fermat’s Library as a browser-based paper reader with annotations that support LaTeX and Markdown. The cofounders began by sharing explanations from their own journal club, including one that unpacked the fundamentals behind the Bitcoin paper. They started with that paper to seed the platform, and it remained the most commented-on.

João frames the broader aim as supporting open science through accessible data, code, and publishing, alongside more collaboration among researchers. The team built an arXiv browser extension that shows comments alongside papers and adds tools such as BibTeX and reference extraction. They were considering recommendations and paper ratings, but described those as difficult problems still under exploration.

The discussion covers why negative results often go unpublished and how that can leave researchers repeating failed experiments without knowing others have tried them. João also raises concerns about p-value practices and incentives, especially in fields such as biology, economics, and nutrition. On scientific writing, he points to Freeman Dyson’s synthesis of work by Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga as an example of clear explanation helping research reach a wider audience.

The cofounders discuss how annotations could help readers understand books, especially when a section explains a concept poorly. They imagine open, editable learning materials where contributors could improve one chapter or add exercises without replacing an entire book. João recalls how notes alongside the Portuguese epic poem Os Lusíadas made its language and historical references easier to follow.

João says building a useful science platform may take years, pointing to arXiv’s steady, roughly linear growth since 1991. The team prioritized an arXiv extension and worked with Quantum Journal, an open journal whose papers used Fermat’s Library’s commenting interface. They invited listeners to annotate papers, share them with research groups, and use the free platform for classes or journal clubs.